Next year’s U.S. Senate primary in Texas offers a wide range of choices. RedState has previously noted our strong preference for either former Texas solicitor general Ted Cruz or former railroad commissioner Michael Williams – both of whom have proven themselves as articulate and reliable champions of conservative principles. On the next tier are former Texas secretary of state Roger Williams and current railroad commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, whose commitment to conservative principles may be somewhat shakier but at least are mouthing the right words so far in this campaign.David Dewhurst Embraces The DewCrist Label And Openly Declares War on Conservatives
And then there is Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, or as I like to call him, DewCrist.
Much like the former Governor of Florida turned ambulance chaser, DewCrist’s conduct as lieutenant governor has been consistent: whatever advances his political aspirations at that moment, he’s for. Obviously, it worked well for him during his first two terms. But in the first few months of his third term – the one in which his path toward higher office has finally cleared – his continuing to play both sides of the fence is costing Texas conservatives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make historic policy gains.
He has approached the budget as a math problem rather than an opportunity to downsize government. As president of the Texas Senate, he allowed the finance committee to adopt a draft budget $12 billion larger than the one approved by the House and endorsed by the state’s leading conservative organizations.
Rather than using his leverage with senators to persuade them to reinvent and downsize government within existing revenues, he assigned a moderate Republican senator to come up with accounting gimmicks and “non-tax revenues” to pay for $4 billion of higher spending, and then gave mixed signals as to whether he’d support their use of $3 billion more from the state’s rainy day fund.
But his latest antics on higher education may be his most egregious knifing of conservatives yet.
Ping!